President Joe Biden nominated Alan Estevez, a former Obama administration Pentagon official, to lead the Bureau of Industry and Security, the White House announced July 13. Estevez is currently a defense and security consultant with Deloitte Consulting after serving as the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics and representing the Defense Department on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Estevez didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The U.S. updated its Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory, highlighting the increasing supply chain, sanctions, labor and export control risks of doing business in the Xinjiang region. The July 13 update, which builds and expands on the original advisory issued last year (see 2007010040), says China is committing genocide through its human rights violations against Muslim minorities, provides guidance to businesses that may invest in implicated Chinese companies, updates a list of U.S. enforcement actions related to Xinjiang and "strengthens" recommendations for companies that risk doing business in the region.
The Justice Department and Federal Maritime Commission signed the first-ever memorandum of understanding between the two agencies to foster better cooperation on enforcement and oversight of competition issues in the ocean shipping industry, the agencies said July 12. The MOU creates a “framework” for the two agencies to discuss “enforcement and regulatory matters” involving unreasonable carrier practices, an increase in large carrier alliances and other practices that are hurting U.S. importers and exporters (see 2102170060). Under the MOU, which was encouraged by President Joe Biden’s executive order last week (see 2107090056), officials from the FMC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division will “confer” at least once annually, according to the MOU.
The Treasury Department issued a new general license authorizing certain exports and reexports of oil to the Venezuelan government and Petroleos de Venezuela, the country’s state-run energy company. General License No. 40, issued July 12, authorizes transactions related to indirect or direct exports and reexports of liquefied natural gas to PdVSA and any entity it owns by 50% or more. The transactions are authorized through 12:01 a.m. July 8, 2022.
Several U.S. and foreign companies in June and July provided updates to their transactions that require foreign investment reviews and approvals. The deals include a signed national security agreement (NSA) with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., plans to file joint CFIUS declarations and a stalled purchase involving a South Korean semiconductor company.
China’s recently passed foreign sanctions law gives it broad discretion to penalize companies for obeying U.S. and other countries' restrictions against China, although it remains unclear how China will use the new tools and what specific activities will be targeted, law firms said. Even so, businesses operating in China should closely review the new law, which passed the National People’s Congress in June (see 2106150030) and closely mirrors U.S. regulations. “It creates a menu of countersanctions available to Chinese authorities” that are “taken straight from the U.S. sanctions playbook,” Morrison & Foerster said in a June 30 post.
Former U.S. trade officials are optimistic the Biden administration can revitalize a mini trade deal with India that was originally proposed under the Trump administration (see 2009010049). But they also said U.S. officials will likely look to add more provisions to any deal, including ones that address labor and climate issues.
Although the new administration has made domestic policy and combating the COVID-19 pandemic a priority for President Joe Biden’s first year in office, officials are beginning to prepare behind the scenes for more trade engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, said Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific. But Campbell also said traders shouldn’t expect much action on that front this year.
The Bureau of Industry and Security will add four Myanmar entities to the Entity List July 6 for their support of the country’s Ministry of Defense, including through funding and the provision of telecommunications services, the agency said in a notice. BIS will also correct the address for an existing Myanmar entity on the list. The companies “pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved” in activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, BIS said, adding that the license restrictions will support U.S. efforts to return democracy to Myanmar.
Although some port situations have improved, exporters are still facing a range of challenges moving products out of terminals due to complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including equipment shortages and high ocean freight rates, shipping industry officials said. The problems caused by the pandemic have even forced some companies to change their long-term export strategies and reassess how they work with ocean carriers.